‘Tis the season for an abundance of music that includes beloved traditions: Handel’s oratorio Messiah and Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker. Both pieces are holiday staples performed year after year. After year.

Cincinnati is no exception when it comes
to these classics but there’s a big difference. The Cincinnati Symphony
Orchestra (CSO) is the house ensemble for the ballet and the oratorio,
along with a full concert schedule. This is not your average orchestra.
Just take a look at their December lineup.

Earlier this month, alto saxophonist
Branford Marsalis joined the CSO for a pair of concerts. Singer Amy
Grant headlined last weekend’s Pops holiday concerts and this weekend,
the CSO performs Handel’s Messiah with the May Festival Chorus, including a concert in Mason.

But there’s more. The CSO is the official orchestra for eight performances of Cincinnati Ballet’s annual production of Nutcracker.The holiday season ends with a New Year’s Eve extravaganza, “La Vie Parisienne,” with singers, dancers and French froth.

The CSO is one of a small number of
orchestras who cover this range of music at any time of the year. The
Boston and Chicago Symphonies and the New York Philharmonic may have
holiday concerts, but none take on such diverse programming. And not
only will the music be wide-ranging, the CSO will work with four
different conductors.

“There are very few orchestras with the
kind of musicianship that our musicians have,” says Pops conductor John
Morris Russell in a phone interview. “The fact that we’re able to do it
all so extraordinarily well is a tribute to the quality of our
musicians.”

Clarinetist Jonathan Gunn agrees. Now in
his ninth season with the CSO, his second as acting principal, he wrote
in an email, “As an orchestra, we excel at playing a classical program
one week, then quickly switching gears and playing Pops and then perhaps
right back again.”

“New arrangements of well-known tunes always
keep things fun,” wrote violinist Janet Carpenter, a first-year
orchestra member. “They often call for that rich, warm string sound
where we can play our hearts out.”

Crossing genres may generate an
adrenaline rush but maintaining that excitement over repeated
performances is a perennial challenge.

“It is joyful, wonderful stuff but it can
get tiresome,” wrote Sam Schlosser, assistant principal and second
trombone. “Keeping it fresh is something we all face.”

For each musician I interviewed, the music is the answer.

“I’ve lost track of how many Nutcrackers I’ve done but I’m well past 100, perhaps around 150,” said Gunn. “Although I’ve played it many times, it is wonderful music, some of Tchaikovsky’s best. Honestly, it never gets boring to play that ballet.”

He adds the lament of pit musicians: “I do wish that I could actually see it!”

Nutcracker fatigue hasn’t hit
flutist Leah Arsenault, now in her second season with the CSO. “This
will only be my third season playing it,” she says, admitting, “A run of
15 shows can be daunting for any of us.”

“It’s first and foremost a ballet piece
but it’s also an orchestral showcase that provides many beautiful and
challenging moments for all the musicians.”

Childhood memories of seeing the ballet
and participating in productions along with her brothers. And as a
flutist, she gets to play some of the most memorable passages.

“You can’t mention Nutcracker without
thinking of the Chinese Dance or the Dance of the Reed Flutes. These
numbers are always highlights for me,” Arsenault says.

Janet Carpenter is looking forward to the challenges in playing her first full performance of Nutcracker. “It requires a lightness of tone in the Overture and other times, it needs a fuller sound, as in ‘The Waltz of the Flowers.’”

Her colleagues agree that it’s the music keeps them from burning out.

“Something will always be different and new,” said Gunn. “This is one of the great joys of making music.”

John Morris Russell takes his inspiration
from conductor Murry Sidlin. “He said, ‘Your responsibility as a
performer is to make sure that the first-time audience member has an
extraordinary experience and you leave the person who’s there for the
last time with the sweetest of memories.’”

“You always re-invent yourself each time the lights go on. That’s what being a performer is all about.”